


Energy on High

by Ukamuka



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AU sort of, M/M, still stick to the main story but in little bits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-01-30
Packaged: 2018-03-09 13:43:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3251969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ukamuka/pseuds/Ukamuka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As much as it hurts to keep going, to stop can feel truly agonizing. The primal instinct to rip every fiber of ones muscles may seem a horror to some, but a challenge to others.<br/>Nishinoya fights to find that balance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> Still in the process of figuring out how the story is going to play, so I've posted my first little blurb in hopes of seeing if I'm motivated to write more chapters. Anyhow, I really appreciate comments, and I know we get barely anything about the team's home lives, so in a way you could call this sort of an AU.

The sound of ragged breaths and skidding gym shoes filled the waxed floor, lungs pushing out air that had been sucked in only seconds ago, sweat pouring like fat tears, blinding the vision everyone so depended on. One blink and the ball was on the ground, the thud of it as loud as a crack of thunder that violently deafened every other unnecessary sound.  


Reaching out with his hands tightly clasped together, the thrill of the ball’s submission to gravity raising his senses until his eyes saw everything in hyper realism. Nothing mattered in that moment, not the skid of his elbow that he’d so hastily forgotten to wear an elbow pad over. The complete silence of the rest of the team as they simultaneously sucked in a short mouthful of air.  


The impact of the ball and the floor seemed to be inevitable, the two being drawn to each other like lovers.  


Noya’s cupped hands penetrated the quickly closing gap, sending the ball back in the air, a crazy grin sprouting on the boy’s face.  


A whistle blew just as his body decided the sweat-slicked floor was the perfect place to take an impromptu nap. The team exploded in a cheer that overpowered the shrill screech of the whistle between Takeda’s lips, and Noya found himself being jerked up by the jersey. The sudden change from horizontal to vertical, coupled with his exhaustion sending inky black spots splashed in his eyes had the boy slightly dazed.  
“You keep skidding on that elbow it’s going to be a flat stump by the time we get to Nationals!” Ryu said behind him, still holding onto the jersey to make sure Noya wasn’t going to topple back down.  
“Noya-senpai you were on one side of the court and then you were like, over there! And all with a WOOSH in barely a second!” Hinata squealed somewhere behind their approaching team mates.  


The rest of team congratulated him on the manic dive on something like a practice game, Daichi wiping the sweat off his brow and telling him if that was what he did at Nationals, they were sure to rise to the top once more. ‘The Guardian Deity’ was uttered with both respect and enthusiasm, though the look on the advisor’s face was one that did not share the same congratulation.  


Wishing the boys a good night and reminding them to properly hydrate themselves after a quick shower, he called Nishinoya over with a wary hand. They boy hastily approached his authority figure, toothy grin being wiped off his face as he promised Tanaka to meet him outside the gym doors.  


“I’m probably going to be no different from any of your teachers, grinding on you for being late to class or something, but please don’t take this in the same way.” The man said sheepishly.  


It looked as if even saying this was making him uncomfortable. The adviser would seldom be heard of for saying anything other than genuine encouragements towards the team.  


Noya nodded haphazardly, knowing that he wouldn’t make a promise until what Takeda wanted to say was said.  
“I know you just came back from a month ban off the volleyball team,” He started, avoiding the second year’s eyes. “A-and you mentioned- well no more like you firmly stated- that even if you will be coming to practice, there is no way you are going to Nationals without Asahi back on the team.”  


“Yes and that still stands true.” Noya said in a calm voice, trying to hide the way he wanted to once again forcefully re-instate that there was no way he was going to set foot into Nationals without the Karasuno ace. Either the trembling giant showed up to practice and committed to the team or Noya had nothing to do with it.  


Takeda seemed to lose his voice for a short moment, but regained it again through a voluntary cough into the crook of his elbow.  


“Why don’t you think about it, I see your enthusiasm towards the team, it really isn’t that hard to notice the way you strain each and every muscle to be there under the ball even if it seems impossible. Asahi was shaken up, he-“  
“He was selfish! He didn’t want to call on the ball because in that moment he thought of himself as a single unit on the court! Your whole team is behind you, if you fail they will be there, if you win you can be sure that when you turn around they will stand behind you, supporting you!” Noya’s voice rang through the gym in an eerie way, the ghost of a month past rising again to settle coldly in everyone’s chest. The boy wasn’t mad at the advisor, his words were not directed at the man despite his presence being the one in front of Noya, instead of the boy who had been too scared to show his face at the gym for a whole month.  


When Noya realized the person he had just yelled at was his impressionable team advisor, a man who wanted nothing more than the team to succeed together, the boy bowed down with a snap.  
“I’m sorry Takeda-san! It’s just that I’m, well, a little shaken up too.” Noya said with acute feeling of the whole of his team poking out of the change rooms.  


He bowed again and promised that he would think on Takeda’s words, scurrying to get his things from the change room and grabbing the mop from the supply closet to busy himself with scrubbing the gym floor as fast as possible. His embarrassment for lashing out at someone who only meant him good made his forearms move the mop in a frenzy, jerking it back and forth as if to wash away the bitterness he felt.  


“Scrub like that we’ll have sizable dent in the floor for Tsukishima to trip over when running warm-up laps.” Ryuu’s voice sounded behind him, hands also equipped with a bedraggled mop.  
“Now that’s a sight I wouldn’t dare miss seeing, it would be like watching a statue fall to its impending doom.” Noya said in his usual upbeat manner.  


Ryuu frowned, leaning on his mop and watching Takeda leave the gym with a last wave to whomever caught it.  
“Still sensitive?” Was all he said, bringing up the topic of Asahi between him and his best friend for the first time.  


But Noya didn’t answer, hating the way his stomach filled with a searing heat the same way it had minutes ago in front of Takeda-san. The last thing he wanted was to yell in Tanaka’s face the feelings he still could not shake off. Instead he shrugged, a silent motion that in his mind meant ‘if I open my mouth now to answer that, well, let’s just rather not imagine it’ and felt slightly more at easy when his friend just nodded, and changed the conversation topic.  


Talking about the new Pokémon game that came out on the weekend as if nothing out of order had occurred in the last ten minutes, Noya found himself truly thankful for the like minded kid he’d accidentally befriended in their fifth year. Nobody else knew how to douse the fire that was Nishinoya like Ryuu did.


	2. Karasuno group chat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short length of it, but I'm still experimenting with the characters and adding in the domestic life we know barely anything about. The chapters are going to get longer as soon as I get to the actual story line which I promise will come very soon!

Rain trickled down from the sky in a spray of cool bliss, a welcome sensation after a hard practice. Noya tied his jacket around his waist, letting the falling droplets soak through his shirt. The team had dispersed quite quickly today to Noya’s slight disappointment, their practice had gone for longer than the boys expected, and each departed with the depressing thought of homework to be done for tomorrow’s classes. He felt so much more whole when they all dragged their feet down the hill towards the Foothill store, stuffing their faces with steamed buns as the store owner complained of highschoolers eating up his stores before he could properly replenish them. 

Though the experience may be more or less insignificant to others, Noya saw it as what a team was. A bonding experience if you may, though to be sincere not all members of the team would agree so. 

“I really hope my sister is late to get home tonight.” Ryuu said in a defeated tone. 

The two of them walked towards the train station with an unease in their stomachs, hunger quickly becoming the only thing on their minds.

“And why’s that?” Noya asked with a snort as Ryuu gave him a look of disbelief.

“She eats almost everything my dad cooks! And when I get home from our after school practice there’s barely anything left for me! But whenever I complain about it she brings up the excuse of swimmers needing more calories than that of volleyball players.” Ryuu’s older sister had graduated Karasuno and attended a University nearby, having been scouted for the swim team there the Tanaka household was at an equivalent of four children to feed, not two. 

Did swimmers really need that much more than volleyball players? Noya questioned this for a moment.

“Either way I wouldn’t choose swimming over volleyball, you got your head in the water nine times out of ten, what do swimmers even breathe?” Noya said

“They don’t, the moment water hits them they grow gills.” Ryuu answered, kicking a rock into the grass and speeding up his pace.

“Might wanna try dumping a bucket of water over your sister’s head then, see if your speculation is true or not.” 

Noya walked Ryuu to the train station as he always did after practice, waving fervently as the other boy waved back walking backwards and bumping into people trudging with their heads down and suitcases in hand. His eyes followed a man in a business suit with a gaze that almost looked dead, like looking at a fish rolled in clear packaging at the supermarket. Imagining a life so grey, predictable, day-to-day the same routine over and over made Noya shiver, and the rain became slightly less pleasant and more feverishly cooling. 

Hurriedly he untied his black Karasuno jacket and slid it on, zipping it up to his chin and adjusting his bag on one shoulder. Walking home from the school took only ten minutes, though as of returning to the team those ten minutes seemed somewhat longer. He’d looked forward for his one month ban to end, marked his calendar and trained everyday so to come back an even faster whirlwind than he was when he left. 

But another motivation powered his solo training, one he didn’t want to admit to himself. Noya awaited almost impatiently to see Asahi again, train with him and patch up the events of what had separated the two. Not that the boys were particularly close or anything, team mates, and to Noya that already meant something. 

_Arriving at the doors to the gymnasium filled him with an energy that seemed to radiate through his skin, relief overflowing and spilling into the form of a perfect receive. Though he agreed to stay for practices, for an unknown reason Asahi’s absence made him swear off of participating in Nationals._

Ten minutes without much else to think about made him re-assess his thought process over and over. But that really wasn’t Noya’s forte, analyzing anyone’s motives be it even his own, always made his brain feel like it was inflating.

He neared his house, hearing the all too familiar laughter of children as they played in the street, scurrying away onto the sidewalk as a car approached and resuming their games again. Among the group was a little girl with two lopsided pigtails on top of her head, she looked up from where her friends were and saw the second year trudging home. 

“Aniki you’re late for dinner, even mom’s already home!” The little girl yelled in Noya’s direction.

Noya turned his head to smile and wave to his younger sister, assuring her he had understood what she said, knowing too well she would keep repeating herself louder each time until she knew you got her message. The two siblings were both oblivious to how obnoxious their actions were to surrounding people, and in both cases they were too preoccupied to care.

The house was filled with the smell of Gyudon making Noya remember just how much his stomach was desperate for food. He’d last ate lunch on the go, tripping over the trail leading to the volleyball gym to get some twenty minutes of practice in before afternoon classes begun. And the beef his mom prepared was making his eyes water with reluctance to dig in. 

Toeing his shoes off and hanging up his coat Noya called to his mom a greeting to which she responded with a quick but equally as endearing ‘welcome home’. He weighed his chances on sneaking a strip of meat from the still warm pot but was interrupted by his mother’s instinctive response.

“No, no you get out of those sweaty clothes and into something fresh before you sit down to eat.” His mother said without even looking at her son, busy with the notebook on her lap.

Noya’s shoulders slumped but he wasted no time in getting to his room, there really is no better motivator than food, he thought to himself. The clean clothes that laid neatly on his bed smelled of detergent, he made a mental note of thanking his mom for doing the laundry. Ms. Nishinoya worked as a manager of a physical therapy clinic some twenty minutes away by train. Though her employees made it exceptionally known that they worked hard, his mother could not sit still and take even the given off-days. Yu and his younger sister had gotten accustomed to from an early age to take care of the house while their mother was working. Though the ten year old could not do as much as her elder brother, Noya still assigned her a fair share. 

Leaving his school bag propped up to his work desk, Noya emerged from his room promising to himself that homework could wait until a couple hours after. 

“Take plenty, this might be the only time I actually home-cook something this week.” His mother said, typing away at what Noya guessed to be a consultation form for the clinic. 

“The soccer team lose some more players again?” Noya asked, piling the food onto his plate.

His mother always joked about high school students making up more than half of the patient list coming in for physical therapy. 

“Not this time around, though I did have a mortally terrified first year from the basketball team come in for his first time. And it wasn’t even that severe! Just an elbow sprain. Though I can’t blame him, not every kid dives onto their elbow numerous times. On purpose.” She looked directly at her son from behind the back of the sofa, a smile on her lips as she watched Noya point to his elbow with wide eyes, straining to gulp down the food in his mouth.

“It’s totally fine though see-“ He dangled it at a ninety degree angle to somehow prove his point. “And I wear elbow pads...most of the time.”

His mom chuckled at that, “Alright, alright. Just try not to choke on your food or-“

“MOM I THINK I FOUND A DEAD BIRD IN THE BUSHES DO YOU WANNA COME SEE!” A sudden yell came from the front door.

Ms. Nishinoya rolled her eyes, exchanging exasperated looks with her son.

“I’d really rather not, leave it be and come home already, it’s getting late and you still haven’t finished your homework.”

“WAIT MOM NO I THINK IT WAS JUST A CLUMP OF LEAVES, I’LL COME HOME WHEN IM DONE WINNING THIS GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK!” There was a slam as the girl closed the door, no doubt running off to play with the neighborhood kids again. 

Noya wondered if she was the one doing the hiding or the seeking, the former was a doubtful act now that she’d yelled loud enough for people ten houses down to hear.

“Thank you mom!” Noya said, finishing up the last of his meal and cleaning the dish he’d used. “Oh and thanks for doing the laundry too.” 

“You’re welcome, don’t stay up too late” She said.

Leaving a small crack in the door to his room, the boy sat down at his desk opening up his laptop and switching it on. It roared to life as old computers do, though there was so much questionable material hidden within its hard drive that Noya found it hard to imagine replacing it. He’d take the occasional blue screen of death, the overheating it was susceptible to in a very short time, and the ages it took to load a program sometimes to keep his twelve-year-old msn chats far from anyone’s reach. 

The things he wrote back then with the sparkly letters and thirty second long animations to girls he’d prompted msn account names from sent a wave of cringe attacks to him presently. Back in their sixth grade the flaming letters used to confess puppy love was all the rage, he’d thanked Ryuu numerous times for exposing him to such a flawless way of picking up chicks.

A textbook had slipped out of his bag and was on the floor by the feet of his chair, Noya looked at it with half lidded eyes and turned back to the screen. Math could definitely wait. It was only seven thirty after all. 

The skype interface popped up on his screen after what seemed like forever for the old machine to start working. In the group chat for the Karasuno team that Suga had initiated were three green lights apart from his own only now flickering to life. He opened it up and was excited to see Tanaka as one of them. Kinoshita was currently exchanging some sort of research he’d read recently about lucid dreaming, with Yamaguchi replying frequently with phrases such as ‘I really wouldn’t be able to do that’ and ‘that probably takes effort huh’. 

**Baldywith$w@g** : MY STOMACH IS FULL AND I CAN HEAR MY SISTER GRUMBLING LOUDLY AS SHE FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO QUELL HER HUNGER, NOYA I HAVE WON THIS TIME.

 **RRRrollingTHUNDER** : I sincerely congratulate you my friend but is there any way to tell she isn’t plotting revenge?? You should start stocking up for THE WAR OF THE FULL STOMACHS!!

 **Baldywith$w@g** : Oh man no you got me worried, I need to begin squirreling away what our parents buy grocery shopping or else I am man down. Unless of course you cook me one of your specialty spaghetti balls, you know, the ones that lump in your throat because of the how little you cooked them.

 **RRRrollingTHUNDER** : Yeah okay, one time and it wasn’t even that severe, I hit you in the back and you coughed it up nice and easy. Plus how am I supposed to know how long to cook pasta for, the box wasn’t there because Mio used the it to collect worms in the garden.

 **Baldywith$w@g** : You almost killed me! That stuff was as stiff as your hair when you spike it.

 **RRRrollingTHUNDER** : I don’t even use that much gel! Well okay maybe I do but you don’t wanna see my hair in the morning without it.

The two other lights flickered off, their two team mates probably continuing the conversation in their own chat. As Noya was about to type out something else, two new notifications popped up in the Karasuno group chat. The boy’s breath caught in his chest as he saw the latter of the names that hadn’t been present here for as long as a month. Sawamura Daichi, and _Azumane Asahi._


End file.
